


Four

by yeaka



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Costumes, Crossdressing, Ficlet, Gen, Halloween, MWPP Era, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-31
Updated: 2013-03-31
Packaged: 2017-12-07 01:43:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/742715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter must fit in before he can study with his friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

The marauders are officially too loud for the library, and as of last Thursday, they’re all banned for two weeks. Remus is allowed in only with a Professor’s note and if he’s definitely alone, but James, Sirius, and Peter know better than to even set foot down the library’s corridor.

They’re meeting in an empty classroom. Peter isn’t entirely sure which one, as he woke up late and they left without him. The dorms aren’t ideal to studying in: too many distractions. If Sirius can flip through dirty magazines, he will, and if James can toss around a Snitch, he will. This close to the full moon, it’s hard to keep Remus upright without a solid chair. On the third door, Peter finds the right room, and he pulls it closed behind himself as he walks inside. 

He gets about halfway to the front row where his friends are sitting before he feels dreadfully underdressed. 

James turns around in his seat, wearing a full-body brown outfit that looks something like hooded long-underwear. Cheesy fabric antlers are attached to it, and his nose is painted red with three black lines like whiskers on each cheek. James raises an eyebrow as though Peter’s the one done up like a whiskered reindeer. “What’re you supposed to be?”

“Nice rat costume,” Sirius snorts. Sirius has a black turtleneck on and a headband with black dog ears on it, and his nose has black ink on it.

“What’re you dressed like that for?” Peter leans forward to look at Remus, who, aside from a pink clip in his chestnut hair, doesn’t look any different than usual.

“It’s Halloween,” Remus says bluntly. 

“Not until tonight,” Peter counters, which makes Sirius snort.

“If you’re not dressed up, you can’t sit with us.” Sirius flicks his long, black hair over his shoulder, looking quite impressive and overlord-y. Because that’s usually impossible to deal with on his own, Peter looks at James pleadingly. 

James nods in agreement with Sirius. “It’d be like trying to sit with the popular girls when you aren’t wearing pink. Sorry, Wormtail—can’t be done.”

Simultaneously upset and annoyed, Peter jabs a finger in Remus’ direction. “Moony’s not dressed up.”

“I’m dressed up as someone who’s never leaving this desk,” Remus mumbles. James laughs. 

Sitting between them, Sirius elbows Remus. “Stand up.”

“No.”

“C’mon.”

“Padfoot, no.”

“But you look so good!”

“C’mon, show him,” James adds, leaning across Sirius. “You look really good, Remy!”

Remus blushes heavily. But he rolls his eyes and does stand up very stiffly. Peter’s eyes widen a little—upon closer inspection, Remus is wearing a girl’s school uniform. The grey skirt cuts off only a few centimeters down his creamy thighs, and James whistles a joking catcall. Sirius smacks Remus’ rear, barking, “You win best costume, hands down!”

Remus smacks Sirius in the back of the head on the way back to his seat, but he doesn’t look particularly angry when he scolds, “That’s easy for you to say—you’re the one that got it and made me wear it.” James laughs again, evidently finding the whole thing wholly amusing. Peter feels distinctly left out; no one gave him a costume. 

But he isn’t a marauder for nothing, and he doesn’t give up so easy. He just came all the way down from the tower, and he doesn’t want to go all the way back up again, particularly when he knows he doesn’t have a costume, anyway. “You guys are being ridiculous. It’s barely even lunchtime—no one else is dressed up yet.”

“That’s not true,” Sirius insists. “Clearly you haven’t seen Snivellus yet—he’s in a greasy git costume.”

It takes Peter a second to get it, and by then it’s too late to laugh. James gives him an expectant look, and that makes him flush. “Well... deer don’t even have whiskers.” Then he flushes a little deeper; he feels petty and backed into a corner. 

To his surprise, the annoyance that flickers over James’ face gets directed at Sirius. “I know, but apparently _somebody else_ doesn’t.” Sirius shrugs a tad sheepishly, and James adds in a quiet tone, “I am actually kinda hurt that you don’t know what I look like.”

“I only see Prongs through dog eyes,” Sirius whines. “How am I supposed to retain all the details when I go back to this? Don’t most animals have whiskers, anyway?”

“A rat does,” Remus sighs. “C’mere, Peter. I’ll draw them on and we can make you a tail out of ties or something.”

Peter takes a step forward, but before he can, Sirius whirls around so fast the pages of his book flip. “Hey, I’ve got a great idea! Give him the uniform and Peter can be a girl for Halloween!”

“Then what’ll I be?” Remus asks tiredly, as though expecting the answer.

“Naked!” Sirius says simply. “Haven’t you ever heard of a birthday suit costume?”

Peter looks at James for help, but James just sighs, “And here I thought studying in a classroom would avoid the bedroom talk.”

“You can take the dog out of the bedroom,” Sirius laughs, “But you can’t take the wanting to be in Remus out of the dog.” He promptly gets another smack on the back of his head, this time hard enough to make him yelp and raise a hand to rub it. Opting to ignore it, Peter wanders over to lean across Remus’ desk, and Remus dips his quill into the ink. He traces three scratchy lines on each of Peter’s cheeks, careful not to poke him too hard, but Peter keeps his eyes scrunched closed, just in case. After all, Sirius could jump Remus and make his hand go flying at any moment. 

When Remus is finished, he tugs the tie out from around Peter’s neck, pulling him forward by the collar. Remus wraps the tie around Peter’s head then taps his wand, and Peter feels it stiffen. He reaches up to feel along it, finding two two-dimensional lumps. “Nice,” James whistles. 

“Rat ears,” Remus says with a smile. “I’ve been meaning to practice some transfiguration, anyway. I’ll use my own tie for the tail.” He starts tugging it off his neck then looks sideways. “Anyone else want to volunteer one? I feel a human-sized rat tail should be longer than one tie.”

“Nope,” Sirius replies quickly. “I’ll need mine later.”

“For what?”

Sirius raises an eyebrow and smirks, and Remus rolls his eyes and doesn’t pursue it further. James fishes his out of his bag though, and he hands it over. Remus knots the two together, and taps it a few times with his wand. Peter watches in mild fascination as it slowly morphs into something long and peach-coloured, looking like a dry, over-grown worm. At the end, Remus prods it a few times, until it forms a sort of metal clip. Then he holds it out to Peter, chirping, “There. You can fasten it to the back of your trousers.”

Grinning widely, Peter obliges. The tail reaches almost down to the floor, and between that and his ears, he doesn’t feel so underdressed anymore. He looks at James for approval and gets a curt nod. Climbing happily into the desk beside Remus, Peter says, “You’re awesome, Remus.”

“I know.”

Peter laughs.


End file.
